Interior partitions



y 19, 1964 J. R. SMITH 3,133,325

INTERIOR PARTITIONS Filed Dec. 21, '1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l I I I INV ENT OR JOHN /P. .s/v/ 77-1,

" BY Aw W.

Y ATTORNEYfi May 19, 1964 J. R. SMITH 3,133,325

INTERIOR PARTITI ONS Filed Dec. 21, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY A1 14 ATTORNEY5 United States Patent 3,133,325 HQTERIQR PARTITIONS John R. Smith, Tunnel, N.Y., assignor to Triangle Millworir 8: Supply Corp, Johnson City, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 21, 1%9, Ser. No. 860,941 1 Claim. (1. 20-74) This invention relates to improvements in interior partitions for buildings and more particularly to partitions of the knock down or movable or portable type, constructed of wood, which may be completely finished'at the factory in units or sections and thus shipped to their place of erection. 7

One object of the present invention is to provide a partition of the class described which shall be of simplified construction, economical to manufacture and one which shall be rigid and of permanent appearance when erected.

Another object of the invention is to provide a partition having design flexibility, simplified erection, adequate wire chases and the beauty and warmth of real wood and presenting a modern flush appearance after installation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide certain improvements in details of construction and arrangements of parts whereby advantages in erecting and knocking down will be realized while at the same time obtaining marked strength and rigidity in the finished partition.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent tothose skilled in the art from a reading of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein one form of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a partition constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the partition section termed a hollow wire panel; and

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal section of the wire panel viewed from above in FIGURE 2.

The partition, according to the present invention is made up of a plurality of standard hollow c'ore doors 1 which serve as main panels and varying in width every two inches from eighteen inches to forty-eight inches, thus providing any combination of panels to suit the length of the walls or of the rooms to be partitioned off. Such doors form no part of this invention since they are available on the market. The partition in its preferred form extends from the floor towards the ceiling but in no instance to a height to cause the cornice to touch the ceiling. When terminating short of the ceiling, only one row of these hollow core doors is preferably employed, the same being finished across their upper edges with a groove 2 for a purpose to be described later.

Referring now more in detail to FIGURE 1, the lower or main body portion of the partition is comprised of a series of the hollow core doors 1 interspersed with hollow wire panels 3 which extend to the same height as do the hollow core doors 1, that is, from the base anchoring member (not shown) to the cornice .19, which cornice made up of several parts forms an important feature of this invention. The wire panels 3 are likewise provided with -a groove 4 across their upper edges, said grooves matching the grooves 2 as to width and depth in the hollow core doors.

The vertical wire panel 3 being hollow throughout its length, as shown at 5, is employed for either electrical or communication conductors 6 in the manner shown in FIGURE 2 in the broken away portion of the panel. The hollow portion 5 is known as a wire chase.

The panel '3 on its face is provided with electrical or communication outlets 7, or both, depending upon the circumstances. This Wire panel also serves as a divider between the hollow core doors 1, and is interlocked with each adjacent door by means of the tongue 8 engaging a vertical groove 9 in the door (see FlGUR-E 3). The tongue 8 is formed on and is an integral part of the stile 8. The tongues and grooves are large and substantial and thus provide a firm interlocking of the adjacent doors and panels, thus effecting rigidity and eliminating any external exposed fastening members whatsoever. .As can be seen in FIGURE 1, the wall face of the wire panel is flush with the Wall faces of the adjacent hollow core doors 1, thereby forming a continuous fiush surface wall portion, presenting no large posts or pilasters to mar the smooth appearance of the structure, as is found in many existing prior art designs of factory manufactured partitions made of wood or metal. The flush surface enhances the beauty and warmth of the real wood employed in making the partition herein described.

Turning again to FIGURE 1, attention is directed to the cornice 11h, which is a continuous unit running the entire length of the partitions and constructed at the factory of five specific members, 11, .12, 13, 14 and 15, of the form shown at It) in FIGURE 1. The numeral 10 is intended to apply to the whole assembled cornice. Each of the members 11', 12, '13, 14 and 15 is of importance to the cornice 10. I

The cornice C10 is provided with a base member 11 which is furnished with a tongue 20 adapted to fit into the grooves 2 and 4 on the panels .1 and 3-, and two downwardly disposed grooves 21 which lie parallel to each other and engage the marginal edge portions 40, 41, '42 and 43 of the doors and panels. In addition to this, the base member is also provided with parallel upwardly presented grooves 22 into which are adapted to fit the tongues Stlfof the side members of face plates 12 and 14 of the cornice. These members are shown in FIGURE 1 as having been partially removed for purposes of illustration, from the grooves 22. 'Such removal is effected by the use of concealed, countersunk vertical screws 51 which extend downwardly through member 13 into members 12 and 14. When the members 12 and 14 are removed they permit access to the two wire ra'ceways 52 and 53 extending throughout the length of the cornice and disposed parallel to each other, being separated by a vertical partition 54 extending between members 13 and '11 and held in grooves provided in those respective members.

The two wire raceways 52 and 53 constitute an important improvement in the art, inasmuch as they provide for electrical and communication conductors at one accessible level without interruption at doorways or other entrances. In the partitions of the prior art, there is provision made for more than one wire but accessibility is not present, or provision is made for only one wire at the top, or cor-nice, and another in the bottom or base portion. When the wire chase or raceway is provided for in the base, as in the prior art, it is interrupted at each doorway or entrance and the wire is then channeled around the doorway or entrance frame or a channel is cut in the floor, thus necessitating an expensive and unnecessary job. The wire raceways 52 and 53, being divided by the partition 54, which is a sturdy member, meets all known electrical and communications conductor codes pertaining to electrical and communication wires running parallel to each other and close to each other at the same level. This sturdy center member 54 also forms a rigid support for the top cornice member 13 which, when the side members 12 and 14 are temporarily removed, must support in some instances other partition members (not shown) such as glass panels which would rest in the grooves 60 or other panelling employed to extend the partitions to any desired ceiling height.

'In addition to the tongues 50 provided on the side members 12 and 14, these members are formed with portions 6 1 which, when in the closed position of the side members, abut the portions 62 of the top member 13. However, the side members are held in place by the tongues 50 and by the screws 51 and hence there is no showing of fastening means whatsoever. Customarily the cornice unit is made of wood to match the wood of the wall panels and it runs continuously over and interlocks with the vertical panels 1 and 3 to provide maximum rigidity.

The vertical hollow wire panel 3, as before stated, is provided with the wire chase 5, into which chase are fed the electrical and communications conductors. Customarily such conductors are encased in armored sheaths such as BX and the sheaths extend to the top of the panel or at least to the groove 4 where connections are made with the conductors lying in the raceways 52 and 53 in a manner well known in the art and forming no part of this invention.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that a sectional or knock down partition has been devised which shall be possessed of extreme strength and rigidity when erected, and one which will, to all appearances, be of permanent design and construction, but which in fact may be readily and quickly disassembled or taken down without marring or injuring the same in any way and as readily reassembled or put up at any other point or location.

While certain forms and arrangements of parts have been shown and described herein, such has been done merely for purposes of disclosing one, and at present, the preferred method of construction and erection, but as will be obvious to those skilled in the art, the construction lends itself readily to change and modification and accordingly it is not desired to limit or restrict the invention to the particular form or arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described, except where limitations appear in the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A cornice for use in connection with knock-down partitions, said cornice being fabricated in substantially continuous lengths and being hollow throughout and being formed with a base, a top and removable side plates and being further provided with a vertically disposed continuous load-supporting and separating partition which is secured to said base and top and which is equally spaced from and extends parallel to said removable side plates thereby defining a pair of hollow conduits, said base being provided with a downwardly presented Wall panel engaging tongue adapted to be disposed in a matching groove in a wall panel, said base including a pair of grooves on the side opposite said panel engaging tongue, said grooves being equally spaced outwardly of said separating partition, each of said removable side plates being formed in the longitudinal edge portions thereof which are adjacent said respective base and top with longitudinally extending tongues, each one of said tongues adjacent said base being detachably disposed in said last mentioned grooves thereby forming tongue and groove joints, each tongue disposed in said last mentioned grooves being of a depth and width to loosely fit said last mentioned grooves, the face of said tongue nearest said load-supporting partition being a continuation of the face of said side plate nearest to said load-supporting partition, the face of said tongue furthest from said load-supporting partition being spaced from the face of said side plate furthest from said load-supporting partition a distance substantially equal to the distance said groove is removed from the edge of said base, the other said tongues adjacent said top abutting and detachably secured to the longitudinal edge portions of said top by removable securing means, each one of said tongues adjacent said top having a face portion that abuts the edge of said top and a face portion that abuts the bottom surface of said top and together forming a continuation of the face of said side plate nearest to said load-supporting partition and having further a face portion that is furthest from the edge of said top and forms a continuation of the face of said side plate furthest from said load supporting partition, said securing means extending through said top and into the face portion of said tongue that abuts the bottom surface of said top thereby concealing the securing means from view and when removed permitting disengagement of the side plate by an outward tilting action thereof whereby said tongue is detachably removed from said groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 503,873 Powers Aug. 22, 1893 1,485,449 Baloun Mar. 4, 1924 1,694,690 Reinhold Dec. 11, 1928 1,758,489 Wheat May 13, 1930 1,872,527 Techmer Aug. 16, 1932 2,079,635 Sharp May 11, 1937 2,107,624 Berger Feb. 8, 1938 2,159,296 Sharp May 23, 1939 2,169,274 Mills Aug. ;15, 1939 2,365,255 Eager Dec. 19, 1944 2,371,300 Kaufman Mar. 13, 1945 2,426,802 Wachsmann Sept. 2, 1947 2,630,604 Marsh Mar. 10, 1953 2,815,542 Baker Dec. 10, 1957 

